Iron Rich Vegan Chilli

"The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present." - Eckhart Tolle

Hello Friends. Can you believe it's almost Christmas? 
My second month of blogging is over and I don't know where November has gone. 

It's getting a lot colder here in Vancouver so naturally I'm gravitating into making more hot food. Chilli has got to be my favourite. All you do is throw a bunch of vegetables, legumes, and spices into  Large pot and let it sit on medium temperature for 45 minutes. It costs under $5 to make a huge pot that lasts at least 3 or 5 meals, and it's Iron rich which Anemic-me loves. 
I usually put whatever is in my fridge in the pot, but when I intend to make it for the week I do have my favourite mixture of vegetables and spices. I learnt this one from my aunt & cousin who sell pampered chef (my all time favourite kitchen tools). Feel free to add whatever other vegetables you want. 

Vegan Chilli 

5 min prep time 

45 minute cook time 

Ingredients 

1 TBSP olive oil 

1 can of Beans mixed 

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 carrot 

1 zucchini 
2 stalks of celery 

1 cup of corn 

1/2 onion 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp turmeric 

heat 1 TBSP olive oil in large pot on medium heat

drain and rinse one can of mixed beans and add to the pot 

put full can of diced tomatoes into the pot (do not drain)

add cut up vegetables into Pot. I like to shred my carrots and zuchinni but you can also cut them into really small pieces.

add spices to the chilli and give it a good stir. 

let the chilli boil and then turn down to low heat and let it cook for about 45 minutes. 

Once everything is cooked. Enjoy with a bowl of rice, quinoa or on it's own. 

Weekly Update #2 Plus my New Favourite Green Smoothie Recipe

Wow what a crazy week it's been. As a lot of you may know, I was involved in a market selling my T-shirts yesterday. It was such a good experience and I can't wait to start sharing the designs with you guys.
I've been so busy with the T-shirts I haven't had much time to take pictures of any thing I'm making but I assure you the Christmas recipes are going to be good.

For now I wanted to share my favourite green smoothie recipe with you. This is one I've been drinking every morning to not only increase my Iron levels but to give me energy.

Also I wanted to share with you, my first EVER video.. It's super raw but it actually took me a really long time to learn how to upload and place everything. One thing at a time right! It's something I've been wanting to play around with for a while, so here it is.

Spinach & Pineapple Green Smoothie 

2 cups of Spinach 

1 cup Pineapple 

1 mango 

1 cup cucumber 

1 1/2 cups of water 

Blend all together in a blender until it's smooth and enjoy. 

Carrot Cake with Vegan Cream Cheese Icing

"Slow down. Be intentional. Notice the energy you are bringing into this space and moment"     -Brendon Burchard

 Hi Friends. 
So this one is actually a super easy mug cake that I just made fancy because well... it's Sunday and I felt creative. So no need for the smear of cream cheese or the cut up pieces of cake, you can literally keep the cake in a mug and put the frosting right on top of it. #awesome 
lately I've been crazy busy with 2 jobs, this blog, a T-shirt line and martial arts so I've been thinking of doing a detox/cleanse to at least give my digestive system a bit of R&R ....I was wondering if you guys wanted to see details of the detox here? I would love to start posting more about the vegan lifestyle and fitness instead of all just food recipes posts. so let me know if that would interest you guys. In the meantime though.. enjoy this Carrot Cake recipe. 

Vegan Carrot Mug Cake with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting 

5 minute Prep time (for cake and frosting) 

2 minutes to make in microwave

Mug Cake Ingredients 

5 Tbsp Shredded Carrots 

6 Tbsp Flour 

3 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp All Spice
4 Tbsp Dairy-free milk 
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients 

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup Cashews 

1/4 cup Icing sugar
2 Tbsp Coconut oil (or vegan butter)
1 Tsp Lemon juice 
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

Instructions 
Mix all mug cake ingredients in a microwave safe mug or bowl making sure to mix throughly 
put the mug into the microwave for approximately 2 minutes. 

blend all Cream Cheese frosting ingredients until smooth 
Spread on top of mug cake. 
You can eat it directly from the mug!

Candied Carrots 

5 minutes prep time 

30 minutes cook time 

Ingredients

1/2 cup water 

1/2 cup sugar

1 carrot

1 tsp cinnamon 

Instructions
peel strips of carrots with a vegetable peeler - You want them long enough to twist
Boil water and sugar in a sauce pan. 
Add carrots and cinnamon and let mixture simmer for 15 minutes. 
 preheat oven to 300 degrees
put carrots into strips on an oven rack with a piece of wax paper underneath. 
bake for 15 minutes
take out of oven and twirl the strips around something round (I used a knife sharpener)
they will cool into hard candy pretty quick so you want to twist them before they cool. 

*instead of throwing out the rest of the syrup from the water and sugar mixture I poured it over my cake for an added sugar-y kick of flavour. 

Beet and Sweet Potato Soup

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -  C. S. Lewis

We woke up to sun and warmth in Vancouver today which was a nice change from the 28 days of rain we received in October. The thing about us Vancouverites, we really do know how to enjoy the sun when it's presented to us. There's just a different mood in the air and everybody is out and smiling at each other. 
After my beet juice this weekend I had a few more beets left from my parents garden and very little groceries so I made this soup with pretty much what was left in my fridge..... and I'm not disappointed with the outcome at all. In fact I may be adding a lot more soups to my recipe archive in the near future. 
I hope you enjoy this one and today as much as I did. 

Beet & Sweet Potato Soup 

45 minutes to make 

Ingredients 

2 medium sized beets

1 medium sized sweet potato 

2 cups vegetable broth 

2 cloves garlic 

half an onion 

2 Tbsp olive oil 

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Roast Beets and Sweet potatoes for half an hour or until soft all the way through 

while vegetables are cooking  put 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and add in half a sliced onion  

cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. 

let onions and roasted vegetables cool 

put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. add more water if too thick. 

Enjoy 

Beet and Ginger Smoothie

“Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.”  - Anne of Green Gables 

Beets are one of my all time favourite vegetables. I love the earthy, sweet flavour of them and bonus they are super nutritious.  My Dad gave me a whole bunch from his garden and since I didn't have a whole lot of time to cook this weekend I've been making jars of smoothies with them. 

I think smoothies are such a good way to add nutrients into your day. It's tasty, super easy to make, and will  give you so much energy. Just remember to add as many vegetables as you can in there.

Ginger Beet Smoothie 

Prep time 10 mins 

Ingredients 

2 medium size Beets Plus I added the Green leaves on the top. 

1 inch piece of Ginger

1 Banana

1/2 cup Raspberries

1/2 cup water

Instructions

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender. 

Enjoy 

Tomato Galette with Vegan Ricotta Cheese

"Wild animals would not stay in a country where there were so many people. Pa did not like to stay, either. He liked a country where the wild animals lived without being afraid." - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Hi Guys hope you are having a good weekend so far.
Last weekend I went to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch with my best friend and husband. I got a huge bag of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant for $6 and let me just say that fresh farm vegetables are 100 times better than anything you will ever buy in big grocery stores. they are so fresh and tasty. I had a few leftover from making meals with them all week so I made this tomato galette with ricotta cheese.

I feel like a lot of bloggers have the whole vegan cheese thing nailed so I chose to follow a recipe from Vegan insanity for the cheese instead of creating one. It turned out amazing and was so easy to make. It also made a good addition to my tomato galette. Winning!

Tomato Galette with Vegan Ricotta Cheese

Serves 2
45 mins prep time 
40 minutes bake time

Ingredients
1/2 cup Vegan Ricotta cheese
10 small cherry tomatoes
1/2 plus table spoons of flour
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp cold water
2 tsp olive oil
fresh herbs for on top

Dough Instructions
mix butter in with flour with a fork. 
Slowly add in the cold water 
dough should be be slightly separating. 
Knead the dough a couple times and put the ball into some plastic wrap or an air tight container
keep in the fridge for half an hour or more

Galette Instructions 
preheat oven to 400 degrees
while dough is in fridge cut your tomatoes
put them in a strainer and sprinkle some salt on them (this will dry them out so they aren't to watery for the galette)
leave tomatoes for about 10 mins 

*this is a good time to make your ricotta cheese as it only takes a couple minutes. 

After 30 minutes take dough out of fridge and roll into a circle (doesn't have to be perfect)
spread some olive oil on the dough 
put a generous amount of ricotta on the dough 
then add your tomatoes - make sure you leave enough room on the edges to fold over. 

Bake your galette in the oven for 40 mins or until it looks golden brown. 
sprinkle on some herbs and enjoy.